University of Delaware
Office of Public Relations
UpDate - Vol. 16, No. 15, Dec. 19, 1996
B&E receives $1 million from local benefactor

     He may be old enough to remember Teddy Roosevelt as "a very
likable fellow" who regularly visited a Washington, D.C.,
elementary school wearing striped pants and a satin waistcoat,
but Chaplin "Chap" Tyler is still a working author and activist
determined to help younger people achieve success in the business
world.
     Most recently, the 98-year-old Hockessin resident and his
wife, Elizabeth Trier Tyler, donated $1 million for educational
initiatives within the University's College of Business and
Economics. Tyler, a chemical engineer who spent the bulk of his
career at the DuPont Co. and then worked as a consultant to the
Coca-Cola Co. until age 82, has previously contributed $2 million
to the UD.
     "I was prompted to offer these gifts because of my great
confidence in the people at the University of Delaware," said
Tyler, who just published one book and is currently writing
another volume, to be published when he reaches the 100-year
mark. "Some people talk about 'giving until it hurts.' I think
you should give until it feels good, and it makes me feel very
good indeed to support business students at the University of
Delaware. I see it as an investment in the future of this
country."
     Tyler's generosity will benefit the 1,783 undergraduates and
700 graduate students within the B&E college, University
President David P. Roselle noted. "Chap Tyler has been a tireless
friend to the University," Roselle said. "He is a remarkable
person whose continued commitment to education has been an
inspiration to those of us who have been privileged to work with
him."
     Dana J. Johnson, dean of the B&E college, said Tyler's gift
should allow the UD to expand and enhance a variety of programs
designed to provide hands-on experience to business students.
"Our B&E program consistently ranks among the top 20th percentile
when compared with similar programs nationwide, and it's getting
stronger all the time, thanks in large part to loyal friends like
Chap Tyler," she said. In his latest book, Building for Success
in Business: Your Mid-Career Years, Tyler says business schools
should prepare students to handle real-world problems, by
emphasizing fundamentals, and by integrating theory with
practice.
     
     The road to success

     Tyler's book offers advice for those he terms
"middlers"-business people between the ages of 23 and 42 who are
navigating the road to success. For Tyler, that road began in the
nation's capital, where he was born on March 28, 1898. "You
couldn't imagine a nicer place to grow up," Tyler said recently
of Washington, D.C. "I attended grade-school with Teddy
Roosevelt's son. The president would come to our school, having
walked the half-mile from the White House. He came alone, with no
press and no security staff."
     When Roosevelt's son traumatized the teacher by leaving
snakes in her desk one day, Tyler recalled, the president
announced that "attending public school is a privilege as well as
a right." He then threatened to pack his son off to private
school, prompting applause from one beleaguered classmate, Tyler
recalled.
     Raised by his mother during the school year, Tyler spent
summers in New England, helping his maternal grandparents tend a
farm. In a voice that still belies his New England roots from
time to time, Tyler remembers learning carpentry and working with
lobster fishermen in the waters off Marblehead, Mass. In fact, he
is a licensed boat pilot who once took the wheel from an
inebriated yacht captain during a business excursion. Yet, he
never found time to buy a motorized boat of his own. "Only a
rowboat," he shrugged. "It didn't fit in with what I was doing."
     After receiving degrees in chemical engineering
(Northeastern University, 1920) and business administration
(Boston University, 1922), Tyler earned a master's degree from
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1923. (He also
received an honorary doctor of science degree in 1961, from
Northeastern.)
     At the start of World War I, Tyler completed an examination
to become a U.S. Navy flyer. But, the Navy was slow to respond to
his application, and by the time they offered Tyler a position,
he had already signed up with the U.S. Army. He was assigned to
work overseas, assisting members of a Harvard Medical School
Hospital. As a radiologist, he said, "My job was to write a
report and pin it on the patient, to let the doctors know what
was wrong."
     At MIT after the war, Tyler served as a research
assistant/associate within the Industrial Cooperation and
Research Unit, where he nurtured a flair for report writing.
Unfortunately, his supervisors were more interested in original
research, and they urged him to pursue a doctorate or seek other
work. "I was canned, but given a very convenient interim in which
to look around," Tyler said.
     Anxious about his future, Tyler offered his services to the
McGraw-Hill Co., where recruiters were initially reluctant to
hire a rookie- until one of their veteran editors unexpectedly
died. Tyler was promptly hired to fill the empty slot, as an
assistant editor for Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering
magazine. Then, at age 28, he wrote a book titled Chemical
Engineering Economics, which quickly became a best-seller,
prompting the DuPont Co. to recruit him to conduct economic
project analysis-at a 40 percent pay raise.
     Tyler, a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical
Engineers, served for four years as a member of Delaware's Higher
Education Advisory Commission. His career highlights also include
an appointment as technology consultant to President Harry
Truman's Materials Policy Commission, and his status as a
lifetime trustee emeritus of Northeastern University. In 1992,
the University of Delaware awarded Tyler a Medal of Distinction
for professional achievement. He also is a member of the B&E
Advisory Board.
     
     Looking ahead

     Based on the aging research he conducted for the Coca-Cola
Co., Tyler noted that "anyone who lives longer than 80 years is
overcoming a very strong statistical trend." Only one person in
10,000 reaches the age of 100 in the United States, he said. "I
have 16 months to go," he added.
     But, don't think about throwing a birthday party for Tyler.
"I've known three people who reached 100," he explained. "They
each had a huge party, and they were dead within a couple of
months."
     Instead, Tyler will celebrate by publishing a book now in
progress, to be titled The View From 100. "I've had a crazy quilt
of a life," Tyler said. "Travel and leisure time are great, but I
always want to be doing something to justify my existence, and to
share with others the good fortune that has been bestowed upon
me."
                                           -Ginger Pinholster